From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 15:30:01 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E90811065674 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 15:30:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jbaltz@gmail.com) Received: from rv-out-0506.google.com (rv-out-0506.google.com [209.85.198.229]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE9848FC19 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 15:30:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jbaltz@gmail.com) Received: by rv-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id b25so3578741rvf.43 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 08:30:01 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=XyoytWEnfdWYQzCSuCC8+nBH8au+cbLMaeq9ne+nfw4=; b=YtjlTFnnL0ZcWaKHSQBTJmWlFrho2KIHSR8wFCDu6R2yxQoY/Dbxy1is6yoV+t2X7WkvEeZh9SwHkPZ3cbXMfjdvkfnJ0bf+0ouuXIBG9ZMdsCpt+A8GrmxcHRRiyHg1Lnjvr+sm1AdPPplhVhEO8BV6XSmNsO+Cuvo4x+TE5bw= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=YdIHP01NFzf9IOsLjb/1krg3q5p/BFqX6eXS1nWIPvkyDeOJpbN8U4yCQvObQVH/Kd+XAYnIuhEQ6P/KEBo2t0I8aGG6aXE/QdhAyZIzJbYDZhAU/YGl7GaeFfEHBkgVKOY/++g8KTJ8iNz1E8FfT0F+WxkCxp3JsMg6pWDscXI= Received: by 10.140.136.6 with SMTP id j6mr245974rvd.231.1211988601499; Wed, 28 May 2008 08:30:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.141.69.16 with HTTP; Wed, 28 May 2008 08:30:01 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <2b677bda0805280830o2ecd2e6ga76d707a0a1c2305@mail.gmail.com> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 11:30:01 -0400 From: "Jerry B. Altzman" To: "Erik Trulsson" In-Reply-To: <20080528144819.GA30956@owl.midgard.homeip.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <18493.25160.836101.941905@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20080528140856.GA30599@owl.midgard.homeip.net> <2b677bda0805280731x45fc2dd4ra62a2657e11641c1@mail.gmail.com> <20080528144819.GA30956@owl.midgard.homeip.net> Cc: Bob McConnell , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD based router ... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 15:30:02 -0000 On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Erik Trulsson wrote: > On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:31:24AM -0400, Jerry B. Altzman wrote: >> And all this just to *pass packets*; if you're making real *routing* >> decisions based upon that (i.e. you're making a router rather than a >> switch), which requires that packets take a trip to the CPU, you'll >> find yourself coming to the realization that Cisco and Juniper might >> actually be on to something, there, and that ASICs might actually be >> worth what you paid for them. > Yep, and if you do buy a whole bunch of quad-port NICs for your PC, then > the whole system will probably end up costing quite a bit. It might even > turn out to be cheaper to get a "real" router instead. I don't know about that: Intel quad gigE cards are $250/pop on eBay; Sun qfe cards are a tenth of that price. Have you priced Vendor C or Vendor J routers recently? If you're building a *switch*, you are still price competitive with the bigger vendors. Oh yeah, this is all ONLY for passing ethernet; if you've got other layer-1 technologies to integrate, you're in for a surprise, too. > Erik Trulsson //jbaltz -- jerry b. altzman jbaltz@gmail.com www.jbaltz.com foo mane padme hum